THE LONG ARM OF LANGLEY KILL OR CAPTURE ABU BAKR AL-BAGHDADI

US Special Forces Launch Audacious Night-time Raid in Syria

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A responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 people as his followers seized territories in Iraq and Syria and committed some of the most brutal crimes ever witnessed in recent years in the Middle East theatre. Elsewhere, pockets of ISIS-inspired groups and individuals also carried out terrorist attacks in 31countries.

Since Coalition forces defeated ISIS as a pseudo-military fighting force last year, thus ending al-Baghdadi’s dream of a caliphate, he has been in hiding across Syria and Iraq. Moving constantly from one safe house to another, his movements made detection difficult. However, with a $25 million bounty on his head, and total loss of command and control, the terror leader became more vulnerable to betrayal. And for a number of years the CIA has endeavoured to exploit this weakness. Intelligence officials believe it was this “lack of faith” and a “sense of betrayal” by his own followers - upset that his promises of a caliphate had evaporated - that ultimately led to his downfall.

INTELLIGENCE